I have an over whelming urge to speak in an Irish accent and say “Holy Mary, over score them din yeh?” Maybe it was the wine. Or Tristan wearing green. Or the very obvious overscoring of the “good” dancers to keep them away from the dance duel. I could get behind that, I guess, if Len hadn’t given Donald an 8 while giving Willy a 9. In what frackin’ universe, Len?? Frankly, Donald and Katherine were the only ones worthy of tens and Katherine got one too many in my book. Her legs were SO soft, just like I expected them to be. Ah well, if it keeps her out of the dance duel then I guess it served it’s purpose.

But I have to wonder…if you give Katherine two 10’s up against Maria being dropped on her face, William busting his ankle and Melissa’s concussion??? AND Roshon being in the bottom two last week?? Um…uh oh? I sure as hell hope people are voting for her, cuz I like her and she brought back “good” Marky. I would be a bit worried that people would assume she’s safe…if not for the seriously huge margin. Anyway…

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I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

We’ve got more media coverage to share after last night’s dance. The Access Hollywood interviews aren’t working right now, but, if they are like in weeks past, you’ll be able to view them in the middle of day here.

As promised, Louis Van Amstel reviewed the night at his ABC Blog including how some of the couples danced in rehearsals. Over all, he’s the most worried about Melissa and Gavin tonight. Below is a take. Be sure to read more from Louis here.

Roshon Fagen and Chelsie Hightower ‘s Salsa. If this is dress rehearsal for Roshon I’m looking forward to tonight’s show when his adrenaline is going to kick in! I loved how they had some sexy moments and yet it was innocent. Roshon danced like it was his last dance. He’s showing very clearly that he wants to stay in this competition. Strong moments, speed, flexibility and great partnering with Chelsie. I liked Carrie Ann’s comments! It was very age appropriate. Salsa and calming down, Len? I do actually understand what he’s saying, but Roshon wants to show America he doesn’t want them to be in the bottom two. The scores are good. I’d say three “9s.”

Donald Driver and Peta Murgatroyd ‘s Tango. All I’m going to say is if dress rehearsal was the live show this Argentine Tango would be the dance of the night in my book! Last week I thought they were overrated with their Paso Doble, this week I totally think they’re underrated (by Len and Bruno). This dance was Donald’s best dance by far. Not one little hitch or tentative moment. It had great stillness in the top, fast foot work, dynamic changes and great partnering, especially in the lifts. I totally disagree with Len. For crying out loud, he’s a football player with no dance experience doing this with only five days of rehearsal. Three “10s” in my opinion.

Overall: It was such a great day to have met all the celebs and see them dance during dress rehearsal. Everyone did better than in rehearsal, which is not the norm. I’m worried for Gavin and Melissa tomorrow when I look at the dancing and how the personalities come across, but after Sherri Shepherd’s surprise elimination it just goes to show you that “Dancing” is about so much more than just dancing well.

Tristan has written a new blog at Entertainment Weekly. He writes about he and Gladys Samba last night. Below is a take about Motown Week if they make it. Next week will be right up her alley…

Big plans for Motown Week? First of all, it’s going to be a great night. It’s excitin’. I mean, Motown is superb, know what I mean? To be part of Motown Week in itself is great, but to be part of Motown Week with a Motown legend, for me, is even better. My plan would be to hopefully get somethin’ along the lines of this week. I want to dance to somethin’ fast. Everyone’s sayin’ well you’ve’ done a lot of ballroom dances, stuff like that — maybe we have done a lot of ballroom dances. So there’s a method to that madness, ’cause the tree is fallin’ down now. So what you want to do is get through all those ballroom dances and get to this stage of the competition. Well then you have your fast dances and your fun dances you want to perform. That’s what I want — another fast one where we can entertain people and where Gladys can kind of let loose a little bit. Unfortunately we can’t pick ones out and which songs we want. We’ll probably get a slow one!

Good Morning America hasn’t posted a review of the night. When and if they do, we’ll be sure to post it.

Ok, that is all for now, Dancettes. Here’s to the Results show!! Stay tuned for Miss Heidi’s Numbers prediction post for who will be eliminated tonight. It will be interesting as always. 😉

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I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . To view my photography site, see Lisa Kay Photography.

I loved Latin night! I still haven’t recovered. Let’s see what the couples had to say to George Pennacchio after they danced! He asks some of them more on their comfort zone. He asked the Pros on what silent dance they’d like to perform or which dance they’d perform to show off who they are. It’s also Motown Week next and he finds out some of their dances….

First up, Melissa said she is happy with last night’s dance and score. It was about ‘just the dance’ and she had so much fun. They have the Viennese Waltz if they make it to Motown Week. Maks is worried they will be picked to go tomorrow if they are in the dance duel and it will be his fault as he is a “liability” (wha??). It sounds like he is preparing themselves for the worst. 🙁 Maks loves the Argentine Tango for a silent dance.

Peta told Donald he needed to work hard this week. George praises Peta for the ‘amusement park’ ride she created and they pulled off (I loved that move too! Breathtaking!). They have the Fox Trot next week if they make it. Donald says he loves the challenge of not knowing what’s coming next. Peta loves the Rumba for the silent dance.

Mark and Katherine have the Samba next week if they make it. Katherine is happy with their improvement. They “worked so hard” to make it happen. Katherine isn’t thinking about the mirror ball. She is just taking one week at a time and enjoying her family when they come watch. Mark would do the Jive to show who he is because he never gets tired.

George asks William about his injured foot. He is ok to keep dancing. They talk about how much fun they are having and the hard rehearsals. They rehearsed for more hours and it paid off. They have a Rumba next week and Cheryl wants to concentrate on bringing out William’s “soul” for Motown week.

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I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . To view my photography site, see Lisa Kay Photography.

*yawn* Yeah, all in all, that’s kinda how I felt about Latin night – even with all of the hoopla surrounding some of the couples. We were on tacky prop overload tonight, and it seemed like a lot of the couples resorted to gimmicks and fluff that, quite frankly, I don’t think they needed. Seemed like there was an obvious attempt by the judges to shield some dancers from the duel, and to throw some dancers headlong into it. Should be interesting to see if things shake out like they intend them to…

1.) William & Cheryl – These two are not in the #1 spot because they’re “that good” – they’re here because the level of blatant favoritism they’ve achieved has hit an all-time high level of absurdity. Ankle injury? I’m beginning to think it was a complete fabrication, as they seemed to only quickly gloss over the legitimate details of it, and I didn’t see La Levy wincing in pain (a la JR during HIS Argentine tango last season) or moving any more limply than he usually does. And speaking of a flaccid tango – guess they really gave those 29 points to Cheryl, who didn’t fail to deliver a tango that was 90% her dancing dramatically around her partner like a damn maypole (or stripper pole…) and 10% her partner actually…well, moving at all. Seriously, I dare you all – go back and watch that tango in slow mo, and count how many steps Cheryl takes, and how many William takes. I’m willing to bet the ratio is AT LEAST 2:1. To give a 29 to a tango where the man barely moves, and the stunts are pretty bland? That’s a damn insult to people who actually deserved their score more, like Katherine. Was William bad? No, but I can’t really say he was good, either, considering he barely moved. So I guess my congrats go to the judges, who have backslid into blind worship of “the hottest piece of ass the show has ever had”. Makes me sick just typing it… Read more..

Louis Van Amstel (adding: who is dancing tonight and tweeted about being at rehearsals and writing about them in his ABC blog tomorrow) has some last minute thoughts on the show tonight. Note how the article mentions William Levy and a ‘busted up right ankle”. It also mentions how all three of the injured contestants (Maria, Melissa, and William) are “powering through”. More below including Louis’ thoughts on how Latin Week could be a disadvantage for some of the contestants….

The Power of the Safety Vote
This season has already seen its fair share of injuries: Maria Menounos hurt her ribs and feet; Melissa Gilbert sustained a mild concussion; and now fan-favorite William Levy has busted his right ankle. And while all three of the contestants are still managing to power through, but what do their injuries mean for their fan votes?

Amstel assures us that these unfortunate incidents could actually work in their favor. “I think if anything it could get them the sympathy vote, especially if it’s sincere and it’s not created,” Amstel comments. “In past seasons we’ve had some people that threw in the injury to kind of get votes, but in this case, all the injuries are legit. It could help.”

But Amstel believes that the best thing any injured celeb should do is to “go very easy until show day, so they don’t make their injury any worse.” Let’s hope they all heed his advice.

Latin Week: Some Will Be at a Disadvantage
On this show, contestants have to do way more than just prove they can dance — they have to show they have variety as well, which is the main purpose of having a theme each week. April 16 is Latin Night, so each couple will take on either the Salsa, Argentine Tango, or the Samba, demonstrating just how much they can heat up the dance floor. And while all of the dances provide a challenge in their own unique way, Amstel believes that some routines will definitely be more difficult than others. “In my opinion, the people who have Samba have a disadvantage,” Amstel reveals. “There’s a lot of technique to it and it’s the harder dance. The Salsa, I would say, is the easier dance. Then we have the Argentine Tango where you’re allowed to lift. So the people that have the Argentine Tango, they can use the lift, which is visually very impressive, so those couples have an advantage.”

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I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . To view my photography site, see Lisa Kay Photography.

This is an interesting week. Latin week isn’t a new concept… but normally it would be the Samba and the Rumba… This time around “Latin Week” has an Argentine Tango, the Samba, and the Salsa… Umm oook. Anyway you’re hear to see the predicted scores, not my mini-rant about TPTB changing things up this season… so ONWARDS!

As a REMINDER we are in Week 5, which means that the data that the following predicted scores are based off of, are from the middle third of the previous seasons. If you’re wondering what this means see the following breakdown:
– First “Third”: Weeks 1 through 4
– Middle “Third”: Weeks 4 through 7
– Last “Third”: Weeks 7 through 10

This is to keep the progression as accurate as possible. So if there is a dance that happened in a previous season but in a later week (like Week 9), it wouldn’t make sense to consider it in the predicted scores because the skill level is different between Week 5 and Week 9.

I’m gunning for accuracy here people… well as accurate as subjectivity can be.

MELISSA GILBERTDance: SalsaAverage Scores:
– Age: 24.000
– Occupation: 21.000
– Professional Partner: N/APredicted Score / Rank: 23 / 9thComments: The Salsa hasn’t been done all that often in the past seasons (only Seasons 8, 9, and 12), the only other actress in their 40s to have done the Salsa was back in Season 9: Debi Mazar with Maksim Chmerkovskiy, but that was a Week 1 dance and they got a 16… so not a very good comparison. Season 12’s Kirstie Alley also did the Salsa with Maksim in Week 8 and got a 25, so it’s fair to say that Melissa would be rather close in score if not a point or two below that of Kirstie’s which would equate to the predicted score.

DONALD DRIVERDance: Argentine TangoAverage Scores:
– Age: 24.429
– Occupation: 21.500
– Professional Partner: N/APredicted Score / Rank: 23 / 8thComments: Considering that the Argentine Tango has only been around since Season 8 and not all celebs have gotten the dance… the data is pretty scarce. The only other NFL player in their 30s to have done the Argentine Tango was Season 10’s Chad Ochocinco with Cheryl Burke and they got a 24. So knowing that I think Donald could get about the same score… since his predicted score is about the same. But considering that Donald seems to be hitting his stride I wouldn’t be surprised if he pulls off a better score than predicted.

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My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

AOL has a cool little gem up of Karina Smirnoff talking about her dancing career since she was a little girl. She also discusses her most memorable moments on Dancing With The Stars including the fall with one of her most loved partners, Ralph Macchio. Since then Ralph has been her “hero” for how he was able to recover their dance. You can see some footage of her and current partner, Gavin Degraw, rehearsing. She also talks about some of the pranks that go on behind the scenes of Dancing With The Stars.

Karina has a new blog and video up at People as well. She says it’s time to show some skin.

Also, below is Gavin on the Ryan Seacrest show today with a new knickname for Donald Driver…

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I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . To view my photography site, see Lisa Kay Photography.

In this week’s Dancing With The Stars pre-party, Dance Junkies TV Host Stuart Brazell and award winning ballroom pro Elena Grinenko review the judges comments and see if they are making the right calls this season. Some of this might shock you. As Heidi and Court have told us many times, the couples dance might look good and perfect to the regular viewer, but, they aren’t always following the rules of competition ballroom dancing. IE: Mark and Katherine’s dance last week. Note how Elena gets as frustrated with the “hot” references for William as much as we do.

Fascinating stuff!!! See if you don’t agree?

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I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . To view my photography site, see Lisa Kay Photography.

Latin Week!! Interesting that William got dealt Argentine Tango. William’s got to get his butt pulled in and find better posture. Donald and Argentine Tango?? Oh boy. This will be an interesting week. Not sure how Maria is going to do with a Salsa although Derek talks about creating new tricks in order to work around her rib issues. Not sure how Melissa is going to handle that one either, but Roshon will likely knock it out of the park – and to be honest, he NEEDS to, obviously. Jaleel drew Samba which is much more difficult, so we’ll see. Gladys drew that one too – I’m scared for her. 🙂 Actually, Roshon is the only dancer I’m fairly confident about right now. The dances seem to have been handed out somewhat against the dancers strengths. William would do better probably with Samba, Maria would probably do better with AT, Jaleel might have been better with AT…although I’m not sure if any of these dances will be a perfect fit for Katherine. She’s an excellent dancer, but she definitely will excel in the ballroom, I think. Maybe she will surprise me. If she got called out for being not aggressive enough in Paso, she didn’t have much time to pull it together. Although it could benefit her. I waffle.

As I was saying to someone in the comments, a lot of people think the Argentine Tango people are lucky – I’m not so sure I agree. That dance is amazing when done properly – the key words being “done properly” and it ain’t that easy. I’m not positive that any one of the three will be fantastic at it. Of the three dances, IMO, it will be the easiest one to look like you’re doing it wrong. The others, Salsa and Samba, there seems like there would be easy ways to cover flaws. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Of the three, I’m most interested in seeing what Donald will do with it.

Interestingly, Derek says on AfterBuzz TV that he “got” a song he didn’t quite like, so he went to the music people and asked for a different one – for those of you who didn’t believe that they get handed songs most of the time. 😀 Just sayin’ – I didn’t start watching this show and all the media surrounding it yesterday. It was at least the day before yesterday. 😉 Anyway, another interesting thing in this video, right at the end, Derek says that he instructed Maria to listen to what the judges were saying to the other couples so she could incorporate that into her dance – and she did. Another HUGE benefit to going last…provided your pro tells you to listen to the judges.

ETA 1: Katherine fan twitter with a good track record (per Angela, one of our readers) says that Katherine is going fourth. If this is true, I find it somewhat…surprising. With 9 dancers and an opening dance by Louis and Anna (I believe), that MIGHT be the top of the hour. But I’m really surprised they haven’t given her the pimp spot yet. I’ve reorganized with my guesses on dance order.

ETA 2: Totally not surprised that Donald is in the pimp spot again. He seems like he’s very popular. Legitimately popular and not “pimped to be popular”.

ETA 3: Called William’s dance order right, oddly enough. 🙂

ETA 4: Maria’s third time in the first hour in five weeks. :::sigh::: Although, it could be later in the first hour than normal, depending on what they’ve got going on a the beginning of the show. But still.

ETA 5: Called Roshon and Melissa (I think). Question marks indicate a degree of uncertainty due to source.

ETA 6: Louis reported that he and Anna are dancing in the “middle” of the show tonight. Depending on what they call “the middle” (after the fifth dancer or after the fourth dancer), Katherine and Maria’s positions just got worse. Wait, hold the phone, the troupe is opening the show. I think it’s safe to say that the dance order is allllll messed up. Just assume no one is safe like you would any other time. 🙂

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I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

Best Male Celebrity/Pro Trend of the Week: Heckling William Levy; honorable mention for Gene Simmons-inspired tongue displays, and carrying female contestants up & down the stairs

Courtney: Last week, Derek seemed to start the trend of taking friendly swipes at William and his hunkasaurus rex status on the show…this week, Donald jumped on the bandwagon, too. He issued a warning to La Levy that “another bare-chested, honkey-donkey man is gonna rock this paso!” For what it’s worth, I would much prefer Donald bare-chested than I would William – Donald is like a black Rambo, and with some WICKED tats. I like tats 🙂 I’m pretty sure someone else (maybe Jaleel? Idk) also made a comment kinda issuing a challenge to William, but for the life of me I cannot find it. Also a popular activity for the guys this week? Giving us their best “rock tongue” every time the camera hit them. Was it an attempt to just fit the theme, or an attempt to titillate the female audience? We may never know 😉 But they seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. And then of course, we’ve got superheroes Derek & Gavin, who chivalrously carted an injured Maria up the temporary double set of stairs and an injured Melissa down the stairs, respectively. It was like something out of a rock ‘n’ roll drugstore romance novel – except instead of Fabio, we had mohawked Derek and velvet-clad Gavin. Mmmm…titillating.

Heidi: Heh…my sister who recently started watching DWTS found Derek carrying Maria up the stairs to be the highlight of the night. 🙂 She’s always been one to go for the bodice ripper deal. She texted me several times about how he carried her all the way up the stairs and wasn’t even breathing hard. As for the tongues….the absolute best was Harold Wheeler. With the face paint and all. Hilarious. CAI?? Trying a bit to hard…she ain’t 20 anymore and seriously, the guitar pick stuck to her forehead?? No. 🙂

Courtney: I dunno why, but I get disproportionately annoyed whenever Carrie Ann tries to act “hip” – whether it’s doing the rock tongue, or dancing in her seat, or using cutesy, trendy language – it just kinda makes me want to throw things at her head. 😛

New Injury of the Week: Mark Ballas for Being the Latest Victim of The Mail Order Bride’s Hair

Heidi: Seriously, keep the dude dancing with Katherine away from the mail order bride. He took a face full of hair that was moving at about 90 miles an hour. Beyotch could put out an eye with that mane. 🙂